Judy Murray warns time is running out to secure legacy of her tennis champion sons

Judy Murray has said she may give up fighting to secure a national legacy from the global success of her sons if her plan for a new tennis centre near her hometown is rejected.

She is waiting for a decision from a Scottish government reporter on the multi-million pound tennis and golf academy in Stirling, which she has described as a “bricks and mortar” legacy for the achievements of Andy and his brother, Jamie.

The controversial Park of Keir development, which would see 19 executive houses built on green belt land to pay for the scheme, has been vociferously opposed by a “small group of organised objectors” and was turned down by Stirling Council last December.

A public inquiry was held in September and the reporter's decision is now more than a month past its target date.

Critics claim the project would erode the green belt between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, while Mrs Murray said it was vital that the grassroots tennis academy got underway while her sons were still at the top of the game and was not torpedoed by "aggressive" objectors.

She added that she might not be able to spend another lengthy period applying for permission at another site if the proposals were rejected.

The Murray family has concerns over lack of training facilities for the next generation of stars

She told the Stirling Observer: “I'm 57 now and this is four years' work. I've been coaching for 25 years and have a granddaughter now.

"It's the final thing for me, the final piece in the puzzle, but if for some reason it doesn't happen, the creation of a legacy is going to be down to somebody else.

"I think I've put a lot into this and I'm not sure I could go through another four years at another site. It's taken too long.

"Somebody else could, but would they? Nobody else is coming up with anything."

The former Fed Cup and Scottish national tennis coach said she was "well aware" that the housing element of the plan was the main reason for the level of local opposition.

She added: "I knew that there had been some sensitivity around that piece of land from living in the area. It seems to me it is a relatively small group of people who have been very organised and aggressive in their approach to it.

The Murray brothers have both finished as number one in the world this yearCredit:
PA

"Living in the area, I know Park of Keir is open and people can go and walk on it. But people don't really use it because it is fields.

"You'll get a few people walking their dogs. But having something like this, we would actually open up the land to many more people.”

Scotland has a shortage of indoor tennis courts which experts say are vital if the sport is to be grown following the remarkable achievements of Andy and Jamie Murray, who claimed the world number one spots in singles and doubles this year.

Mrs Murray said she believed the project - which would include 12 indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a six-hole trainer golf course, a country park as well as luxury homes and a hotel, and would be open to all - was a “huge opportunity”.

She added: “I have always seen obstacles as things to get over or around, I never give up on anything. And I think you can see that in my kids, we don't give up on anything.

"You just have to keep trying. We have done so much so far, spent so much time and money trying to get to this stage and I believe totally in the project.

"For me, I want to do this now and I only want to do it here. I will not go to Glasgow or Edinburgh. At this stage of my life it is all about doing it in our area.

"It's taken us about four years to get to this stage. It's been incredibly long and an enormous learning curve in all sorts of ways for me. If we were to get the planning permission, it will still be a couple of years before it is built.”

She also warned that if the development was not built it could take years for someone to come up with another scheme and by then “the boys will have retired and the moment will have gone”.

She said: "Tennis will go back to being largely irrelevant if nobody capitalises on this."

Andy Murray said last week that he feared his career could come to an end without it having become a way forward for stars of the future, if his mother’s plans are rejected.

A spokesman for the pressure group Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion said: "To destroy a beautiful, protected greenbelt area for a new sports facility, there should be a total lack of alternative locations, a well-established need and a watertight business plan. None of these was proved at the public inquiry."